CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) will make payouts of US$29.2 million to CCRIF member countries as a result of damages incurred from Hurricane Matthew.

The payouts, which will be made by October 19th, are detailed as follows:

Haiti will receive $23.4 million ($20.4 million for tropical cyclone and $3 million for excess rainfall). This will be the largest payment ever made by CCRIF.

Barbados will receive $1.7 million ($975,000 for tropical cyclone and $753,277 for excess rainfall).

Saint Lucia will receive $3.8 million for excess rainfall.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines will receive $285,349 for excess rainfall.

Since CCRIF’s inception in 2007, the facility will have made a total of 21 payouts to 10 member governments totaling almost US$68 million, all within 14 days of the event.

Haiti’s Minister of Finance Yves Bastien said the promptness of the payment “is of upmost importance in our effort to bring some relief in different parts of the nation.”

Cayman Islands-based CCRIF said it is able to make quick payouts because of its parametric insurance products. CCRIF’s tropical cyclone (TC) policies make payments based on hurricane wind speed and storm surge levels with the amount of loss calculated in a pre-agreed model, CCRIF said, explaining that they do not include losses due to rainfall.

To fill this gap, CCRIF’s Excess Rainfall (XSR) product was developed in 2013. Excess rainfall policies make payments based on the volume of rainfall from a hurricane or other rain events. A country’s TC or XSR policy is automatically triggered when the modelled losses surpass the policy’s “attachment point” or deductible, which was selected by the government.

Most CCRIF members have purchased both TC and excess rainfall policies to provide coverage against these perils which sometimes occur during one event, CCRIF added, noting that many members also have earthquake coverage.

“Member countries proactively incorporate CCRIF catastrophe insurance – as an example of effective risk transfer – into their national disaster risk management strategies as they seek to make their communities and economies more resilient to natural hazards and climate change,” CCRIF continued.